diff --git a/evidence/pool.go b/evidence/pool.go
index 820fead47..fab29be60 100644
--- a/evidence/pool.go
+++ b/evidence/pool.go
@@ -69,16 +69,18 @@ func (evpool *EvidencePool) State() sm.State {
 
 // Update loads the latest
 func (evpool *EvidencePool) Update(block *types.Block, state sm.State) {
-	evpool.mtx.Lock()
-	defer evpool.mtx.Unlock()
 
 	// sanity check
 	if state.LastBlockHeight != block.Height {
 		panic(fmt.Sprintf("Failed EvidencePool.Update sanity check: got state.Height=%d with block.Height=%d", state.LastBlockHeight, block.Height))
 	}
+
+	// update the state
+	evpool.mtx.Lock()
 	evpool.state = state
+	evpool.mtx.Unlock()
 
-	// NOTE: shouldn't need the mutex
+	// remove evidence from pending and mark committed
 	evpool.MarkEvidenceAsCommitted(block.Evidence.Evidence)
 }
 
diff --git a/evidence/store.go b/evidence/store.go
index abfc5e1fe..6af5d75d8 100644
--- a/evidence/store.go
+++ b/evidence/store.go
@@ -17,10 +17,6 @@ Impl:
 	- First commit atomically in outqueue, pending, lookup.
 	- Once broadcast, remove from outqueue. No need to sync
 	- Once committed, atomically remove from pending and update lookup.
-		- TODO: If we crash after committed but before removing/updating,
-			we'll be stuck broadcasting evidence we never know we committed.
-			so either share the state db and atomically MarkCommitted
-			with ApplyBlock, or check all outqueue/pending on Start to see if its committed
 
 Schema for indexing evidence (note you need both height and hash to find a piece of evidence):
 
diff --git a/state/execution.go b/state/execution.go
index cf27e3958..770911597 100644
--- a/state/execution.go
+++ b/state/execution.go
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ func (blockExec *BlockExecutor) ApplyBlock(state State, blockID types.BlockID, b
 		return state, fmt.Errorf("Commit failed for application: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	// lock mempool, commit state, update mempoool
+	// lock mempool, commit app state, update mempoool
 	appHash, err := blockExec.Commit(block)
 	if err != nil {
 		return state, fmt.Errorf("Commit failed for application: %v", err)